Transaction printing

Last updated September 21, 2019

Transaction Printing describes a mode of submitting a job to a printing device.

In computing, a printer is a peripheral device which makes a persistent representation of graphics or text on paper. While most output is human-readable, bar code printers are an example of an expanded use for printers.

A digital printing system is attached to a computer database and many similar pages, called forms, are printed; each, for example, with a different person's data filling the form such as a monthly telephone or cable bill.^[1]

Digital printing refers to methods of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers. Digital printing has a higher cost per page than more traditional offset printing methods, but this price is usually offset by avoiding the cost of all the technical steps required to make printing plates. It also allows for on-demand printing, short turnaround time, and even a modification of the image used for each impression. The savings in labor and the ever-increasing capability of digital presses means that digital printing is reaching the point where it can match or supersede offset printing technology's ability to produce larger print runs of several thousand sheets at a low price.

A database is an organized collection of data, generally stored and accessed electronically from a computer system. Where databases are more complex they are often developed using formal design and modeling techniques.

Simply stated, transaction printing is the printing of multiple transactions for each customer along with the fixed line details like name and address. This is more used in BFSI sectors, for example, bank statements.

Banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) is an industry term for companies that provide a range of such financial products or services. This includes universal banks that provide a range of financial services or companies that operate in one or more of these financial sectors. BFSI comprises commercial banks, insurance companies, non-banking financial companies, cooperatives, pensions funds, mutual funds and other smaller financial entities.

Transaction printing jobs are similar to, but often more complex than variable data printing jobs such as mail merge. Transaction printing frequently requires customized formatting to present transaction data in a printable and customer-readable format.

Variable data printing (VDP) is a form of digital printing, including on-demand printing, in which elements such as text, graphics and images may be changed from one printed piece to the next, without stopping or slowing down the printing process and using information from a database or external file. For example, a set of personalized letters, each with the same basic layout, can be printed with a different name and address on each letter. Variable data printing is mainly used for direct marketing, customer relationship management, advertising, invoicing and applying addressing on selfmailers, brochures or postcard campaigns.

Mail merge consists in combining mail and letters and pre-addressed envelopes or mailing labels for mass mailings from a form letter.

Currently^{[ when? ]}, printing applications are designed to print transactional details along with the external information (not available in the transaction database), often involving promotional material.

Transaction print jobs are different from 'publishing' print jobs in that the print controller does not know when the job will end when it starts. A transactional print job may involve a hundred, a thousand, or a few million impressions. Many digital printing system's controllers are designed to ingest the entire job, arrange its resources according to the size of the job and then begin printing the job last page first so that what is produced is a 'book' with the user seeing the first page first. This 'publishing' model obviously does not work for 'transaction' printing and a controller using a different internal model for jobs must be used.

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Database normalization is the process of structuring a relational database in accordance with a series of so-called normal forms in order to reduce data redundancy and improve data integrity. It was first proposed by Edgar F. Codd as part of his relational model.

Publishing is the dissemination of literature, music, or information. It is the activity of making information available to the general public. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers, meaning originators and developers of content also provide media to deliver and display their content. Also, the word "publisher" can refer both to an individual who leads a publishing company or an imprint and to an individual who owns/heads a magazine.

Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While other industries established the build to order business model, "print on demand" could only develop after the beginning of digital printing, because it was not economical to print single copies using traditional printing technology such as letterpress and offset printing.

Transaction processing is information processing in computer science that is divided into individual, indivisible operations called transactions. Each transaction must succeed or fail as a complete unit; it can never be only partially complete.

IBM Information Management System (IMS) is a joint hierarchical database and information management system with extensive transaction processing capabilities.

CUPS is a modular printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems which allows a computer to act as a print server. A computer running CUPS is a host that can accept print jobs from client computers, process them, and send them to the appropriate printer.

Prepress is the term used in the printing and publishing industries for the processes and procedures that occur between the creation of a print layout and the final printing. The prepress procedure includes the manufacture of a printing plate, image carrier or form, ready for mounting on a printing press, as well as the adjustment of images and texts or the creation of a high-quality print file. In today's prepress shop, the form of delivery from the customer is usually electronic, either a PDF or application files created from such programs as Scribus, Adobe InDesign Adobe illustrator or QuarkXPress.

Personalization consists of tailoring a service or a product to accommodate specific individuals, sometimes tied to groups or segments of individuals. A wide variety of organizations use personalization to improve customer satisfaction, digital sales conversion, marketing results, branding, and improved website metrics as well as for advertising. Personalization is a key element in social media and recommender systems.

In computer science, data validation is the process of ensuring data have undergone data cleansing to ensure they have data quality, that is, that they are both correct and useful. It uses routines, often called "validation rules" "validation constraints" or "check routines", that check for correctness, meaningfulness, and security of data that are input to the system. The rules may be implemented through the automated facilities of a data dictionary, or by the inclusion of explicit application program validation logic.

Page layout part of graphic design that deals in the arrangement of visual elements on a page

Page layout is the part of graphic design that deals in the arrangement of visual elements on a page. It generally involves organizational principles of composition to achieve specific communication objectives.

Transaction processing is a way of computing that divides work into individual, indivisible operations, called transactions. A transaction processing system (TPS) is a software system, or software/hardware combination, that supports transaction processing.

Web-to-print, also known as Web2Print, remote publishing or print e-commerce is commercial printing using web sites. Companies and software solutions that deal in web-to-print use standard e-commerce and online services like hosting, website design, and cross medial marketing.

A computer appliance is a computer with software or firmware that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. Such devices became known as appliances because of the similarity in role or management to a home appliance, which are generally closed and sealed, and are not serviceable by the user or owner. The hardware and software are delivered as an integrated product and may even be pre-configured before delivery to a customer, to provide a turn-key solution for a particular application. Unlike general purpose computers, appliances are generally not designed to allow the customers to change the software and the underlying operating system, or to flexibly reconfigure the hardware.

PPML is an XML-based industry standard printer language for variable data printing defined by PODi. The industry-wide consortium of 13 companies was initially formed to create PPML, and now has more than 400 member companies.

Variable-data publishing (VDP) is a term referring to the output of a variable composition system. While these systems can produce both electronically viewable and hard-copy (print) output, the "variable-data publishing" term today often distinguishes output destined for electronic viewing, rather than that which is destined for hard-copy print.

Fiscalization is fiscal law designed to avoid retailer fraud. Fiscal law about cash registers has been introduced in countries to control the grey economy by enforcing all mandatory transaction reporting to the authorities. According to fiscal law, an appropriate fiscal receipt has to be printed and given to the customer.

References

↑ "Transaction Printing". Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2013.

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[1] "Transaction Printing". Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2013.